07/01 I had my boat out almost all day! And, yes. There’s a whole lot I’m not writing about. Patience, grasshopper.

07/02 Coco: 93 minutes, 5.81 miles, 3.8 mph, HR=124. It was a little too warm for Coco, so I stopped at the Maxwell Bay boat landing for her to get wet and drink some lake water. Goofy dog stood in the water and looked around, didn’t drink. About another mile down the road I was able to get her wet in someone’s sprinkler. Bailey arrived yesterday and is having a great time with the “Big Girls”. She slept in the bed with all of us last night. Coco was first with the snarled; “shut up and go to sleep” . . . and Bailey understood completely. We all slept very well. In fact, after the usual 5 am outing and feeding, we all went back to bed and slept until 7:40! I’ve got Curried Chicken Salad and Key Lime Pie made. It’s been a productive morning. Dinner was cooked for me again! The girl could get used to that . . .

07/03 Five hours of sleep just isn’t enough. I worked with my Trainer at the gym today instead of tomorrow. I got all my mail opened and sorted, so today I must pay bills. Bills are paid! Heck, I even have a little bit of money left over. How kewl is that? One minute it’s sunny, the next it’s not. Perhaps a nap. About the time I get upstairs with the intent of putting on sunscreen and a bathing suit, the sun goes behind the clouds.

07/04 I had every intention of being asleep by 9 last night. Neighborhood fireworks made sure that didn’t happen. Coco hates that stuff and kept trying to crawl under my pillow. Hopefully she’s now too tired to put up much of a fuss when I take Hanna for a walk. Hanna: 85 minutes, 5.79 miles, 4.0 mph, HR=134. Mother Nature seems to be repeating yesterday’s sunny/cloudy routine.

07/05 The party is over. Between month end, quarter end and the wedding, the next few weeks will be very very busy. The lawn is mowed for another week. I sure do like lengthwise week better than crosswise. A relaxed and quiet walking tour of Cottagewood this evening. I needed that.

07/06 I was talked into leaving the house at 9:30 pm to go downtown to the warehouse district for live music. I’m not sure which was more fun; the music or the people watching!

07/07 In someone’s wedding pictures I saw blue hydrangeas. I have tons of white ones in my yard. Today Avery and I cut some and put them in water with green food coloring to see if they turn green. If they do, I’ll buy red food coloring to get pink flowers.

07/08 The hydrangeas are green!! I’m grateful I didn’t wake up with the headache and sore throat I went to bed with. I spoke too soon about the sore throat. Damn! I managed to get myself to town for dog chow and the undergarment I needed for the dress I’m wearing for the wedding next weekend. I’ll spend the afternoon snoozing in the sun. A last effort on my tan.

07/09 Such a beautiful day! A shame I’ll spend it at my office. One good thing about working on the weekend; the air conditioning isn’t blasting me, I’m comfortably warm in my office. Tomorrow I will appreciate having been here today. Goals are met, an hour earlier than I figured. I’ve not been wasting these late nights in that I’ve been watching the bat activity. While there are not nearly as many as there were, they are without a doubt coming from the woods to the south of my house. I am delighted at the thought they just might be using the bat houses I put up a few years back. I’ve spent a much needed quiet evening. yOUCH! Damn! I just sliced off a bit of the end of my finger while slicing my bagel. I no longer find myself hungry, I’ve put the bagel in the refrigerator and will have it for breakfast. I covered the finger with a gauze pad and wrapped it up good with Vet Tape. I’ll take a good look at it in the morning. It should have stopped bleeding by then. Don’t worry, I don’t think it’s a mortal wound. I promise if blood soaks through the gauze and tape before I go to bed, I’ll call someone to take me to the ER. Note to self: Always slice bagel before drinking margarita. Not that that had anything to do with it, but you never know. 9:06 pm: Finger doesn’t hurt so bad any more and there’s no blood seeping through the bandage. I think it’s safe to go to bed.

07/10 I crawled in bed at 9:22 last night. I heard the chimes at 9:30 but not 9:45. Social life or no, I need to be more mindful of my natural circadian rhythms. My health and well being depend on it. And that goes triple for this week. When I tell you I’m not stressed over the wedding, surely you know I’m lying. Golf was not good for my finger. Piano lesson tomorrow is going to be worse.

07/11 It was easier to play the piano with four fingers than it was to golf. Go figure.

07/12* Happy Birthday, Ashley!!!! Tonight I did the craziest thing I’ve done in my entire life.

07/13 The “Girls” are off to camp! There’s an Excessive Heat Watch advisory for Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Not good. Today I am very much humbled by all the phone calls I’m receiving from people I feel I hardly know who are offering their help. In any way, shape or form I might need. I am blessed. A nasty wind storm! Just after Tony lit the brush pile, but I think it’s going to be OK. The kayak blew off the dock rack. I’m not going to be able to keep those there. I’ll have to figure out something up by the shed. Now there’s sticks and leaves all over the yard.

07/14 If I had a second thought about doing this wedding here, it’s completely and totally gone.

07/15 I’m enjoying my last moments of calm before the chaos begins. There’s a bit of a breeze, for that I’m grateful. What a beautiful wedding!!!

07/16 Oh. My. God. The mess! It’s a good thing Ginny and Mike spent the night. If I was alone here now I would be having a major meltdown. Much help arrived and by noon the mess was gone! After a failed attempt at a nap, I worked on the laundry and made cookies. TJ and the kids stopped by to pick some up on their way to church. I am going to turn off my cell phone, unplug every phone in the house and go to bed early tonight.

07/17 The trash should be out of here today or tomorrow! Weird, the battery in the Wagon is dead. I really don’t want to put the Dogs in the mCoupe. I love BMW Roadside Assistance! Assistance will be here within an hour. I’ll take this opportunity to take the bike racks off the car, they cost me 3 mpg. Though I’ll leave the cross bars until I pick up the new kayak I ordered last week. The trash is gone! The “Girls” are home!! I have absolutely no energy. It will be a miracle if I can get myself out of the house for golf tonight. I made it to golf and actually did a bit better than last week.

07/18 I’m better than yesterday, but I’m still not myself.

07/19* Rain! This will be good for my lawn. There’s a dead spot where the dance floor was and a few more around the yard from parked cars. I’m going to wait a few extra days to mow and allow it to heal some. Does that make sense or is it just a lame excuse not to mow? TJ was here for dinner.

07/20 My new kayak is in! So much for washing the wagon tonight. I got the kayak picked up and the wagon washed! My iTunes are all back to normal again, I wish I knew what makes that work and not work.

07/24 The radar trap on northbound 494 and Highway 55. How many more times do you suppose I can breeze through that going 85 in a 60? I think I’m on 3 or 4 and should probably not push my luck. I’m thinking golf is going to get rained out. I considered golf rained out because getting my wedding pictures tonight became a much higher priority.

07/25 I had hoped last night’s storm would clear out some of this heat and humidity. No such luck. FedEx stopped by for a visit.

07/26 Documentation, got to love it. Man, do I have a headache, not sure if it’s last night’s wine or what. Had lunch with Tim.

07/27 My grass needs mowing, but it’s the only green grass in the neighborhood so I’m going to leave it until the weekend. Met Craig for a drink. I’m trying to separate out the various family’s pictures and burn them to CD for distribution.

07/28 I’ve been doing so well at the nap thing but just can’t manage it today. At least Avery still has it.

07/29 My GPS was messed up this morning, according to it I walked to Medina and back. Weird! Coco: 94 minutes, HR=112. I stopped at the Maxwell Bay Boat Landing to let Coco play in the water for a bit, but she’s so darned focused on the walk, she can’t grasp the concept of swim and drink. One of these days I really need to get a bird bath to cover that stump. Brunch with Bruce followed by a wonderful day out on the lake!

07/30 Hanna: 109 minutes, 5.85 miles, 3.3 mph, HR=99. Hanna can’t figure out a stop at the boat landing to swim or drink either. Goofy dogs! I set the height adjustment on my tractor as high as it would go and mowed my grass. There were 10 here for dinner and present opening this evening. Everyone brought something, all I had to do was set the table and clean up.

07/31 97° and I can’t say as I’m looking forward to golf this evening. I went to the golf course only to find the parking lot empty. The thermometer in my car read 116°. I left. My car started to run badly near Ridgedale. I really needed to put gas in it, but I was afraid to turn it off. I’m thinking it wasn’t liking the heat, but the temperature gauge was fine. This wagon has give me more than it’s share of grief. If it wasn’t such a waste of resources (and I could get another one with a V8) I would get a different car, but with only 54,000 miles on it, I just won’t do it. I think I’ve just been given an opportunity to get some laundry done. My shins itch! I’ve been having an awful lot of trouble with that lately, what gives? Odd. I just heard the security system chime that a door had been opened. It wasn’t me. Last I checked, the dogs can’t open doors. A walk around finds everything secure.